Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Early Germanic Society - What did they make?

Rings and brooches with gold filigree provide evidence of Germans working in gold dating from the mid-first century B.C. to the beginning of the first century A.D. The Germans actually preferred Roman silver to gold and evidence of them working in silver dates to roughly the same period.

While working in these precious metals was important to the Germans, and was perhaps more importantly of interest to the Romans, the Germans viewed iron-working as the most important craft of all. Evidence has been found of large iron manufacturing centers, but most iron was produced in smaller quantities by local smiths.

Thus, Tacitus’ assertion that “iron is not plentiful among them” seems to have been derived from ignorance rather than fact. Salt was also an important commodity and was often the object of tribal conflict. Pottery, wood-working, textiles and leather were also important industries. In all of these areas, Germanic technology progressed in fits and starts, often stagnating in isolated spots or progressing rapidly in others.

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If you like the information provided here, please buy a copyof Burgundians in the Mist in monograph--including complete footnotes and a bibliography--today! Also available at Amazon!

To quote the line from Butch and Sundance, "Who are those guys?" To put it simply, the Burgundians of late antiquity and the early middle ages are considered a bit player in the grand play of the Fall of the Roman Empire and the eventual emergence of the modern western European nations. While this is true in that they were conquered and absorbed by the Franks, this view is also attributable to the dearth of information (primary sources) directly attributable to them (with the notable exception of the Lex Gundobada). Instead, they've been defined by those who were often partisans of their historical rivals, particularly Gregory of Tours. The goal of this blog is to look through the "mist" to try to learn more about them and to revisit some of the established narrative concerning their own rise and fall.